Democratic/Liberal

Background

Contributions from Democratic/liberal interests come from progressive groups, as well as party committees like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. (Note that in the case of party committees, the contributions counted here come from employees; the actual committees give far more to candidates through official party channels.)

In terms of political giving, the 2016 cycle was an exceptional year for Democratic and liberal interests: They contributed more than $84 million, compared to about $26 million in 2014. Individual donors, rather than PACs, accounted for 78 percent of that. And, overall, the progressive groups preferred presidential candidate Bernie Sanders over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton; they gave Sanders more than $21 million and Clinton less than $19.2 million.

The top three contributors were Majority Forward, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, and super PACs American Bridge 21st Century Foundation and Priorities USA Action. Those groups gave a combined $5.5 million. That number, though, doesn't tell the whole story. Included in the contribution totals are gifts from individuals and organizations to candidates, party committees and outside groups, as well as gifts from PACs to candidates and party committees. But Priorities USA's super PAC, for example, gave $14.5 million to the Women Vote! super PAC in the 2016 cycle; because that giving was super PAC-to-super PAC, it isn't factored into the industry's numbers.

In comparison to its contribution totals, the lobbying outlays of Democratic/liberal groups are quite paltry. In 2016, such groups spent only $300,000, on issues like voting rights and the influence of money in politics.

In 2013, however, lobbying outlays topped $6.6 million, a totally uncharacteristic amount for the industry. (The previous high, in 2010, didn't crack $1.9 million.) Most of that money came from The Advocacy Fund, which spent $6.3 million on lobbying. The organization filed only eight lobbying reports, all of which targeted immigration reform. Since then, The Advocacy Fund's lobbying has been nonexistent -- and the lobbying of Democratic/liberal groups more broadly has remained below $350,000.

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